Pay It Forward - at the walk-in clinic

Most people like to think of themselves as unique as opposed to "typical"... I guess I am very typical of most people, in this respect. I hate going to the doctor, apparently, among men, I am not alone.

I have been floored from most of the past week, coming down with something fast and furious last Wednesday.  I tend to the old fashioned remedies and avoid pharmaceuticals wherever and whenever possible.

That said, my symptoms seems to have evolved in the last few days into something very different, with acute throat soreness and sharp earaches.

Salt water gargles et al were not seeming to help and I relented and took my wife's advice.  I went to the doctor. 

Now part of the reason I do not like going to the doctor is the amount of waiting involved.

My mother-in-law and my wife told me to go the walk-in clinic in the Alliston Walmart, but to make sure that I was there before it opened.

I arrived early and found only a woman, dressed in army fatigues (obviously from C.F.B. Borden in Angus) holding her young daughter.  Great I thought, I will be second.

In the next fifteen minutes, I was joined by two more women, a young mother with a toddler girl, and another mother with two children in tow.

The Walk-in clinic opened and the nurse at the front started having us complete the paperwork.  When it was my turn, second, I completed my paperwork, and mentioned to the nurse to let the to mothers with young children behind me be seen before me.

I never told the two young mothers anything, and just took my seat.

When another nurse called patients into the waiting rooms, there was a brief look of uncertainty as the ladies behind me were called before me.  I smiled at them and told them that I knew what it was like to be at the doctor's when my son was sick, and that it was no trouble to wait for them to be treated first.  They both thanked me.

Funny thing, the wait didn't seem as long as it normally does.  Though the clinic filled up fast (they actually give pagers out so that you can shop or dine at MacDonalds while you are waiting), my turn came, the doctor examined me and prescribed a anti-biotic for a ear and throat infection.

I saw one of the ladies leaving the pharmacy as I went to drop off my prescription. 

I am not sure if you can "feel good", "feeling bad", but I was...